Tears of After
by PirateElfLuvr
Summary: Tony dies and leaves a video for Pepper. Based on the movies.
1. Chapter 1

**Fixed all the spelling errors so enjoy!**

Pepper was tired of crying. She cried when Tony left that morning. She cried when they called her. She cried over his body. She cried in the taxi. When she got back, she walked right downstairs to Tony's workshop. She tried not to cry. He knew it was a one-way trip. No coming back. They spent the entire night together. She wished he could come back. The doctors were trying to jump start the arc to see if it could bring him back. He had cheated death before, she was sure his number was up. She switched on the computer. Jarvis sprung to life.

"Evening Jarvis." She choked out.

"Good evening Ms. Potts." Jarvis said. She sat at his desk. "I know your sad. You should know his last words were: "Tell Pepper I love her." Pepper felt the tears coming back. Tony had never told her he loved her. She guessed it though. He always said goodnight. Even if he was across the world. That was their code for "I'm alive and no terrorists have kidnapped me." It was comforting.

"Oh Jarvis, I don't want to talk about it." She covered her face with her hands. The computer said nothing for a while until Jarvis finally spoke.

"He made you a video. I highly recommend you view it." Was all he said. Pepper looked up to see on the screen, Tony's face. She hit the huge play button.

"Hey Pepper. Hola. Wassup. Wasabi. Wait that's not hello, that's like a food or something." Tony looked thoughtful for a moment. The sound of his voice was killing her. "Anyway if your watching this I'm dead. Gone. Whatever. But you should know, how lucky you are that this amazingly gorgeous man, is making a video for you." He smirked. "But in all seriousness I'm a jerk. But you still love me. Continuing on, I leave everything to you. My company is yours. And if you do have feelings for me, or if you don't. Either way you can move on. Get married. Have a bunch of little Peppers running around or whatever." She started to cry.  
"Anyway, I realized I should have told you everyday since the moment I met you, I love you." She sobbed harder as she realized he was quoting her favorite movie. "Um also I can only live if I have four things.1. My company 2. good looks 3. Girls 4. Money." Her heart snapped. Typical Tony, playing with her heart. "But since Afghanistan, I figured out I only needed three things. 1. My arc reactor 2. Iron man and 3. Pepper. Your the biggest part of my life. You took such amazing care of me and did a good job putting up with me. So thanks." He ran his fingers through his hair. She always thought it looked so cute. "Bottom line Jarvis has something's for you and I love you Pepper Potts. I always will." The screen faded to black. She sobbed. After a while she remembered.

"What do you have for me?" She asked the computer.

"Looked behind me." She walked behind the computer. A box of tissues sat their. A post-it note was stuck to the top.

_I knew you'd be crying over me. Enjoy :)_

_Tony_

She laughed the first smile she had in a while. She looked at the printer where Jarvis was printing out some stuff. She looked at the first sheet. It was a music playlist.

_1. As long as you love me-Justin Beiber_

_2. Gotta be you-One Direction_

_3. Don't know why-Norah Jones_

_4. Nothing even matters-B.T.R_

_5. I want to hold your hand-The Beatles_

_6. If I had a million dollars-The Barenaked Ladies_

_7. Extraordinary Girl-Green Day_

_8. Just can't get enough-The Black Eyed Peas_

_9. I'm only me when I'm with you-Taylor Swift_

_10. I'm yours-Jason Mraz_

She smiled. She knew most of the the songs, but a couple were new. He had scribbled something at the bottom.

_I suck at writing songs, so I stole some other people's_

She laughed again. She grabbed the second sheet from the printer. They were blueprints. For a new arc reactor.

**_Okay not sure_**** if this is in character for Tony or Pepper but I thought it was kinda sweet, also give me some feedback on how i did for characters and if I should continue.**

**thanks for reading!**

**-Abby**


	2. Chapter 2

**omg! Thank you so much for the reviews! I continued it, should be less sad…**

"Rhodey , will you come down to Tony's workshop please?" Pepper asked the army Commander. After a good night sleep, two cups of coffee and four romance movies later, Pepper Potts was ready to go.

"Yeah. Be over in a minute." Rhodey answered. She put the phone down. Tony's blueprints were sitting next to her. She looked them over for the hundredth time. Pepper had no idea how to read this stuff, let alone build it. She leaned back in Tony's swivel chair. This was probably the most casually dressed shes been since working for Mr. Stark. She was wearing faded blue jeans, gray converse sneakers and one of Tony's vintage-looking Iron Man tee shirts. Her auburn hair was loosely in a pony tail.  
"So whats up Pepper?" Rhodey walked in. She turned and handed him the blueprints. He looked over it.  
"From what I can tell, this thing goes over the arc reactor. It plugs in here," He pointed to the center of the cover. "and from the info Tony's told me, the newest arc he has in will always keep the shrapnel from his heart, even if he dies."  
Pepper nodded, trying to keep up. A thought struck her.  
"How did Tony die?" Pepper asked.  
"He flew into an multidimensional portal." Rhodey responded.  
"That'll do it for ya." She felt that heavy heart feeling again.  
"But its actually good. He has no major gaping wounds. Therefore the plan is simple: build this, drive to the hospital, put it on him. Then it will jumpstart the arc reactor which will shock his heart, hopefully getting it beating again." He explained.  
"Rhodey, I have absolutely NO idea how to build this." Pepper stated.  
"Well I'm no Tony Stark, but this seems like a fairly simple design. You can help if you want." She nodded vigorously.  
"Then lets go."

* * *

Pepper was tired. She had been working for ten hours. Rhodey had her constantly on her feet. How did Tony do it? Work like this. Filing papers? Making phone calls? No problem. But connecting wires, fusing things and mixing metals had her sweating, By ten thirty at night it was complete. A small cage-like-thing was sitting in front if them. It was the shape of the top half of the arc reactor.  
"This is it?" She asked.  
"Only one way to find out." Rhodey answered, grabbing it and walking over to one of Tony's cars. Pepper ran over and climbed in the passenger seat and they were off. She had mixed feelings. Excitement and fear. Fear that it wouldn't work and excited that maybe it would. When the arrived at the hospital, Steve Rodgers and Natasha Romanoff were waiting there. They hopped out of the sports car and headed toward them.  
"Hey we have news." Steve said. "The arc is glowing. Faintly. There is still hope."  
Pepper felt this happiness bubble swell up inside her. Tony might be looked at the arc re-starter in her hands. Steve was right. There was still hope.

**Okay so for all you 'smart' people out there who are gonna hate mail me because the arc re-starter is "not possible" and the whole thing is "unrealistic" just chill. THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THE STORY! This is a TonyxPepper fanfic so, get over it. Other than that, thanks for the love!**

**-Abby**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well this is it folks. The last chapter in my amazing trilogy. Thanks so much for all the reviews! this little experiment turned out fabulous. If I finish my other stories, there might be another Tony\Pepper story coming in the the not too distant future!**

Tony Stark was laying on a hospital bed. His hair was tousled and clotted with blood. Pepper walked over to his unconscious body. Her and Rhodey and spent hours working on an arc-restarter that will hopefully bring Tony back. She looked down at his arc reactor. It was glowing so faintly you could barely see the tiny light. She turned to Rhodey.  
"Show time." Pepper handed him the Arc re-starter. He held it over the arc. Pepper held her breath as it clicked into place. She felt Steve's hand on her shoulder. They were all waiting. The arc suddenly glowed very bright then faded. There was no light at all. Pepper felt defeated. She had let him down. She knelt by his bed and sobbed. Rhodey put his arm around her. She felt him shake too and knew he was crying too. Pepper wiped tears from her eyes and stood up.  
"I don't know why we even bothered. We can't keep playing with mother nature." She sighed. Rhodey looked at her.  
"Tony is my best friend. I want what's best for him. You know why I did this?" He asked. She shook her head.  
"I wanted to see you two get married. Be happy. Have kids. I'm a full grown man and in the army and I just broke down sobbing. I mean it Pepper." She started to cry again. She had secretly wanted to get married to him too. Now her dream was over. She was alone. Pepper dropped once more to her knees beside the bed.  
She heard faintly a whirring and a click, then a soft gasp. She looked up to see Tony's chest rising and then falling. He was alive. She jumped up and hugged Steve and Natasha. She hugged Rhodey and even the doctor. She turned to Tony. The arc was now glowing normally. Tony's eyes fluttered open. Pepper started crying all over again.  
"Pepper…" He whispered.  
"Yeah?" She asked taking his hand.  
"How's my hair?" He asked giving a tiny smile. She laughed and tears ran down her face. She covered her face with her hands. She head them all talking. Mainly Rhodey talking to Tony about the arc re-starter. She stood up.  
"Your eyes are red. Tears for you long lost boss?"  
"Yes!" She sobbed. She started laughing too. He was back! It was all okay!  
"You did it Pepper. I'm so proud of you." He smiled. Pepper leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Wow. I come back from the dead and all I get is a kiss on the forehead?" Tony complained playfully.  
"Well Mr. Stark, I need to run a few tests and them you should be good to go." The doctor said. Pepper let go of his hand she didn't even realize she was holding.  
"I'll meet you at home, okay?" She said.  
"Okay cool. There better be shwarma." He grinned.  
"Alright. Will that be all Mr. Stark?"  
"That will be all Miss. Potts."

**I know I stole those lines from the movies but I do not own them. Also the Ironman 3 trailer just came out… definite Pepper\Tony! Thanks so much guys.**


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